Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello, new here and hope I am posting in the correct spot. Trying to solve a ongoing problem with my mig welder. Bought new in 1996 (!). Still on its first spool of wire. (!!)

Yesterday welder was sporadic, one bead perfect, next bead splatter , voltage seemed low, arc difficult to start. Went on all day , very frustrating. At one point , after increasing voltage to " medium" I decreased it to " low" and it began to work perfectly again.

Based on this , I thought the main voltage selector switch may be corroded . Today I disassembled the switch, cleaned the contact and reassembled with di electric grease. Now...... I get NO arc!

I have checked voltage at the wall, ( good) I get gas flow, wire feeds smooth fan runs, ( cleaned ground cable) . I am stumped after working on this for 6 hours.... Any ideas are appreciated..

Got any pics???

Did you hook all wires back up where they came off???

Take pics of things before you take them apart...

Thanks for the reply. There are only 4 "wires" that go to the selector switch (more like flat bar stock) I labeled all of them before removal.

You are right a pic is a great idea. I have looked at other pics on the net, mine is connected the same.

Tognot wrote:Thanks for the reply. There are only 4 "wires" that go to the selector switch (more like flat bar stock) I labeled all of them before removal.

You are right a pic is a great idea. I have looked at other pics on the net, mine is connected the same.

Well,
Do you have the settings on the front in the right spot??? Id there a switch inside the machine???

Here's a pdf you might read through...

http://edgewh.esabna.com/literature/Arc ... -087-N.pdf

Hope this helps.

~John

Welder set to spool instead of whip ?

Thanks, since my first post I tried to by pass the welding lead ( even thought the micro switch in the trigger checked out and seemed to work).

I jumped the two wires just before the relays inside the welder, to simulate pulling the trigger. Same result, wire feeds, gas flows, but no arc.

I can see the relays are working when i pull the trigger, but is it possible the relays" work" but one circuit in a relay is not sending a signal to fire the welder? ( sorry i dont know the right terminology)

It is set to whip - not spool.. I will go check out the PDF that was sent , thanks.

i have looked for and cant find, a on line " repair manual" for this welder. does such a thing exist? like a repair manual for cars?

Thanks again

this might be of help....
http://search.tb.ask.com/search/redirec ... o%3D&ord=0&

thanks, I have the owners manual that two of you referred to. I was looking for something more technical, that might give specifications for different components, or give a test procedure for different components.

example: check for voltage at switch "A" when selector is in "medium" position. or something like that.

what do they use at the welding repair shop?

Welcome to the forum Tognot. I'm sorry that I can't help with your problem.

Tognot,

"Sporadic" before you worked on the selector, and "no arc" after, suggests a problem in the switch that you're not seeing. Did you "Ohm" the switch before you reinstalled it, to (a) make sure it was making contact, and (b) make sure it wasn't shorting one selection to another?

Simple test, remove the switch, and make a jumper from the common terminal to one of the selections, and see if it arcs. Put an ohmmeter on the switch at the same time, to be sure you've not had an inadvertant short.

Steve S

- Look at the schematic on page 42.
- your range switch (S2) is connected back to the transformer secondary for the High and Med settings.
- with a multimeter, test from Pin 4 of the range switch (S2) to Pin 4 of the voltage switch (S1).
- you should get continuity with all ranges and voltages, if not check your switches separately.
- there are only a handful of components to check in the circuit. Follow the schematic and test each component.

AKweldshop wrote:this might be of help....
http://search.tb.ask.com/search/redirec ... o%3D&ord=0&

thanks! thats the kind of explanation i need. i will try that tonight and report back.

Well it looks like problem solved. I took the main selector switch apart again ...it seems I had not indexed the switches properly. After doing that I had continuity between poles when switching

So it appears the switch WAS the problem, I just didn't address it correctly from the start. But it works great now.

In hindsight, this may have been the reason for countless frustrating welds, with seemingly fluctuating voltage.

Hope so! Thanks for everyone's input.

Glad we could help.

Enjoy your machine.

~John

You are welcome. Usually the problem is not as complicated as we first imagine.
I often find equipment in the recycling yards that only require a fuse, a new power cord, a new switch, etc.
It's a shame that we've become a throw-away society. My first plasma cutter was from the recycler,
the only thing wrong with it, was a 10 ohm, 50 watt wirewound resistor being used essentially as a fuse.

Tognot wrote:thanks! thats the kind of explanation i need. i will try that tonight and report back.